Apparatus for winding rolls of sheet material



Feb. 3, 1970 w. w. GOTTSCHALK 7 A PARATUS FOR WINDING ROLLS OF SHEET MATERIALS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 5, 1968 R Y L A M m R Ex 0 W w G I I W v m H W B V T k l. H mm m Y I 1 aw I. E l- Ummm I mm 1| iv ,6 I w 6 A mm 10.526 JOmPZOU JOmFZOU mm 0 w E Feb. 3, 1970 3,493,187

APPARATUS FOR WINDING ROLLS 0F SHEET MATERIALS Filed June 5, 1968 w. w. GOTTSCHALK 2 Sheets-Sheet z WINSTON W GOTTSC-HALK ATTORNEY 3,493,187 APPARATUS FOR WINDING ROLLS OF SHEET MATERIAL Winston W. Gottschalk, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation f Pennsylvania Filed June 5, 1968, Ser. No. 734,806 Int. Cl. B65h 17/02 US. Cl. 242-68.2 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for winding of sheet material without the need for a mandrel. The outer edge of the sheet material is grasped by end gudgeons which, as they rotate, roll the sheet material into a compact roll. The sheet material is supported only at its outer edges by the end gudgeons. There is no mandrel passing through the core of the rolled sheet material. When rolling the sheet material while grasping only its edges, there is a tendency for the leading edge of the center portion of the sheet material to bulge out and resist rolling. A movable tucker plate forces this middle region to turn in to form the inner convolution of the roll.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention is directed to an apparatus for the rolling of sheet material. More particularly, the apparatus involves the use of a tucker to help roll the center portion of the leading edge when a mandrelless rolling apparatus is being used.

Description of the prior art Normally sheet materials are rolled by wrapping the sheet material around a cardboard core or a removable mandrel. The leading edge of the sheet material is held by and supported by the rigid core or mandrel and this leading edge is held adjacent the core or mandrel as the first convolution of the roll is made. The second convolution, then overlying the first convolution, will tend to hold the leading edge of the sheet material tightly against the core or mandrel. Continued rotation of the core or mandrel then results in the formation of a roll of sheet material. The use of the rigid cardboard core results in an unnecessary packing expense if the sheet material is capable of supporting itself when rolled. The removable mandrel must be removed from the roll of material after it has been rolled, and this requires the sliding of the mandrel out from the core of the roll. This requires excessive clearance to the side of the rolling machine to permit the mandrel to be extracted from the roll of the sheet material.

The problem solved herein is the elimination of the cardboard core since the sheet materials involved herein are self-supporting once rolled. The elimination of the mandrel removes the need for the step of extracting the mandrel from the rolled material with a subsequent saving in space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention involves the use of end gudgeons which grasp just the outer extremities of the leading edge of the sheet material. The sheet material is wraped around the end gudgeons so that the end gudgeons function to a limited extent as a rigid core or mandrel. However, the gudgeons only extend approximately 6" into the core of States Patent O ice the roll leaving a major portion of the core of the roll without a mandrel or core support.

However, when attempting to roll a sheet material such as a vinyl flooring by holding it only at the ends of its leading edge and rotating it to form the first convolution of the roll, the center portion of the leading edge resists the rolling action with a consequential tearing of this middle portion. It is necessary to support the middle portion of the leading edge of the sheet material until such time as the first convolution is made, then subsequent convolutions readily follow the path generated by the first convolution. The use of a tucker plate was found desirble to guide the middle portion of the leading edge during the forming of the first convolution. The tucker merely forces the leading edge to curve around and follow the path being generated by the outer extremities of the leading edge to yield a first convolution which is cylindrical in form. After the first convolution is made, the roll is self-sustaining and the tucker is no longer needed to guide the middle portion of the sheet material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of the winding apparatus;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the winding apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an end view of one of the expandable end gudgeons; and

FIG. 4 isa sectional view of the end gudgeon of FIG. 3 taken along the line 4-4 thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings and especially FIG. 1, it will be seen that the Winding or rolling apparatus comprises essentially a pair of actually aligned expandable end gudgeons 1 and 2 carried by supporting end stands 3 and 4 which are mounted for movement relative to each other on tracks or ways 5 and 6. Air cylinders 7 and 8 provides the means for providing the relative movement of the end stands and gudgeons along the tracks or ways 5 and 6. A roll of material 9 is shown, in dotted lines, mounted on the end gudgeons 1 and 2. Stripper plates 10 and 11 are fixedly mounted on stands 12 and 13 and the plates are positioned at each end of the roll of material 9 to facilitate removal of the end gudgeons 1 and 2 from the complete roll of material. The stripper plates merely prevent the roll of sheet material from moving as the end gudgeon is extracted from the roll of material.

Hydraulic roll lift means 14 is provided for supporting and ejecting the completed roll of coiled material after the end gudgeons 1 and 2 have been removed therefrom. Operation of the lift means will be explained in detail later. Hydraulically operated means 15 and 16 mounted on the end stands 3 and 4 are provided to cause expansion of the end gudgeons 1 and 2 to grasp the sheet materials prior to and during rolling as will be explained in detail later.

The main drive shaft 17 carried by bearings 18, 19 and 20 is mounted on support members 21, 22 and 23. Drive shaft 17 is rotated by means of a sprocket 24 which in turn is connected by conventional means (not shown) such as an electric motor and chain drive. End gudgeons 1 and 2 are rotated by a means comprising chain drives 25 and 26 mounted over sprockets 27 and 28 on the drive shaft 17, idler sprockets 29 and 30, and sprockets 31 and 32 mounted on shafts 33 and 34 carried by bearings 35, 36, 37 and 38 mounted on end stands 3 and 4. Consequently, rotation of drive shaft 17 results in rotation of the end gudgeons.

Cam members 39 and 40 on the drive shaft 17 operate in conjunction with switches 41 and 42 mounted on support stand 43 to control indexing of the end gudgeons 1 and 2 and operation of the tucking means '74 (see FIG. 2) for the guiding and tucking in of the unsupported middle region of a sheet of material during the formation of the first convolution of the roll of sheet material.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the end gudgeon comprises main body portion 44. Centrally positioned within the gudgeon main body portion 44 and supported by means of webs 45 and 46 is a tubular member 47 provided with two openings 48 and 49. Centrally positioned within tubular member 47 is shaft 50 carrying cone-shaped members 51 and 52. Positioned on shaft 50 between the retaining cap 53 and the end of the tube 47 and the truncated portion of cone-shaped member 51 is a clamping rod spring 54. Shaft 50 and gudgeon clamping cones 51 and 52 are adapted to be moved in the direction of arrow A by hydraulically operated means 15 or 16. The means 16 operates a rod structure 34a passing through hollow shaft 34 to cause shaft 50 (see FIG. 4) to move forward and backward. A similar structure is operated by means 15. This causes gudgeon actuating pins 55 and 56 extending through openings 48 and 49 and carried by the gudgeon flap 57 and riding on the sloping cam surfaces of the coneshaped members 51 and 52 to move outwardly to the position shown by solid line in FIGS. 3 and 4. Reversed movement of shaft 50 and members 51 and 52 is aided by pressure of spring 54. This reverse movement permits pins 55 and 56 to move inwardly opening the gudgeon flap 57. A spring 58 is attached to gudgeon flap 57 and to tube 47 by means of elements 59 and 60 to assist in the movement of the gudgeon flap to the open position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3. Consequently, it will be seen that the hydraulic operating means 15 and 16 provide for the movement of shaft 50 which in turn provides for the opening and closing movement of the gudgeon flap 57. The gudgeon flap 57 pivots about pin 61 which passes through both hinges 62.

After the sheet material has been completely rolled, the gudgeon flap 57 is opened and the end stands move outwardly due to operation of air cylinders 7 and 8. This extracts the gudgeons from the core portion of the roll of sheet material. Stripper plates 10 and 11 keep the coil of sheet material from moving with the gudgeons as they are extracted from the coil of material. Just prior to the extraction of the end gudgeons from the roll of sheet material, the lift means 14 is moved upwardly to engage and support the roll of sheet material. A limit switch 64 stops the upward movement of the lift means once it has engaged the roll of sheet material. Lift cylinder 65 provides the means for raising the lift table 66. Extraction of the end gudgeons then has the unsupported roll resting upon the lift means 14. Subsequent raising of the lift table 66 by lift cylinder 65 moves the roll to an elevated position. The movement of telescoping element 67 is less than the upward movement of lift 65 causing the lift table 66 to slope to the left of FIG. 2, pivoting around pivot 66a. The tilting of the lift table 66 permits the roll of sheet material to roll down a conventional conveyor system to a final wrapping station.

Tucker 74, a curved plate, is carried on the end of an arm aflixed to an upper carriage 76. The carriage 76 is supported on two pivotally mounted arms 77 which are pivotally mounted at their lower ends to a fixed support 78. The hydraulic cylinder 79 is fixedly mounted at one end to a support 80 and at the other end is fastened to one of support arms 77. The hydraulic cylinder 79 operates to move the upper carriage 76 from the solid line position of FIG. 2 to the dotted line position of FIG. 2. The solid line position shows the tucker 74 in position where it is capable of guiding the middle region of the leading edge of the sheet material as the end gudgeons rotate in a counterclockwise direction. The dotted line position of carriage 76 results in movement of the tucker 74 to its inoperative position. The tucker 74 has a length which is less than the total length of the roll of sheet material whereby the tucker will only provide support to the center portion of the leading edge of the sheet material. As best seen in FIG. 2, the leading edge of the sheet material is grasped by the gudgeon at about the 11:00 position. Movement of the gudgeon in a counterclockwise direction will draw the sheet material down to the 6:00 position and then start moving it upward towards the 3:00 position. It was found that the middle portion of the leading edge of the sheet material tends to flare outward during this upward travel due to the gravity action on the leading edge. The tucker engages the middle portion of the leading edge at about the 5:00 position and tends to lead this middle portion up to the 1:00 position where the complete leading edge of the sheet material is now tucked under the sheet material for the formation of the second convolution of the roll of material. Once the leading edge is tucked under the second convolution, the sheet material is totally self-sustaining and will readily wrap into a cylindrical roll.

The complete winding apparatus functions as follows: At the start of the operation, the open flap structure of the end gudgeon is in the position shown in FIG. 2. Hydraulic cylinders are operated by the machine operator to cause the hydraulic operated means 15 and 16 to open the gudgeon flap 57. The leading edge of the sheet material is then placed within the open flap structure of the gudgeon. The machine operator then closes the gudgeon flap and initiates operation of the drive shaft 17. Initiation of the drive of the machine also moves the tucker 74 into position. After one complete revolution of the gudgeon and, consequently the drive shaft 17, the cam 40 operates the switch 42 to move the tucker to its inoperative position shown in FIG. 2. The roll is completely formed, the end gudgeons are extracted and the lift table moves the roll of sheet material to a conveyor structure which takes the roll of sheet material to the final wrapping station. Since the gudgeon flaps may not be in position to receive the sheet material leading edge, the drive for the gudgeon is started to rotate the gudgeons. When cam 39 is in position relative to switch 41, the rotation of the end gudgeons is stopped. This then stops the end gudgeons in the position shown in FIG. 2 wherein they are in position to receive a new piece of sheet material for Winding.

It should be noted many variations are possible. One may be that the gudgeons are removable and interchangeable for various sizes by the use of a spindle nut 82 on shaft 34 which engages a threaded collar 81 on the gudgeon.

What is claimed is:

1. A winding apparatus for sheet material comprising: a pair of support means carrying axially aligned end gudgeon means, means for rotating the end gudgeon means intermittently, said end gudgeon means being expandable chucks that grip only a portion of the leading edges of the sheet material by means of clamping slots in their chucks, said support means are movable relative to each other so that they space the end gudgeon means to grip only the outer edges of the leading edge of the sheet material, said gudgeon means grip the sheets in their clamping slot and wrap the Sheet material around the gudgeon means supporting the roll of sheet material at only the ends of the leading edge leaving an unsupported middle region, and means for guiding and tucking in the unsupported middle region of the leading edge of the sheet material during its first convolution when the gudgeons have gripped the material and are beginning to wrap the sheet material around the gudgeons to form a roll of sheet material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the end gudgeon means are removable and interchangeable for size.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the means for guiding and tucking is a curved plate which engages 5 the unsupported middle region of the leading edge of the sheet material to assist in the forming of the first convolution of material.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein means are provided for automatically moving the guiding and tucking means into position for the guiding of the leading edge of the sheet material during its first convolution and after the first convolution is held in place by the beginning of the second convolution, said means moves the guiding and tucklng means to an inoperative position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,306,550 2/1967 Ewing 24268.2

NATHAN L. MINTZ, Primary Examiner 

